Fluid evaporating device



Nov. 14, 1950 J. BJORKSTEN 2,529,536

FLUID EVAPORATING DEVICE Filed 001;. 26, 1945 Patented Nov. 14, 1950UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to appliances for causing evaporation of liquidsin the atmosphere, and, more specifically, to deodorizing appliances.

Heretofore such appliances have consisted in the main of a containerfrom which a liquid is brought to evaporate by the capillary action ofawick partially immersed in the liquid and partially exposed to the air,so as to promote continuous evaporation. The disadvantage of suchapparatus of prior art is applied, for example, to perfume dispensersordeodorizers, is that the perfume constituents will evaporate moreslowly than the solvent in which they are being carried. Therefore, overa period of about ten days, or somewhat more or less, dependent ontemperature and ventilation conditions, the concentration of slowlyevaporating aromatic material in the wick will have mounted to such apoint that no more capillary action takes place, and as a consequencethe flow through the wick stagnates and the device ceases to function.

The present invention has for its object a convenient way of eliminatingthis difficulty and of providing a dispenser which can be used almostindefinitely without necessity for changing the wick.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent as the followingdetailed description proceeds:

The single drawing represents the side view, parts of outer cover beingbroken away, in the outer hull i is encased a jar 2 which holds theevaporating liquid 9. Immersed in this liquid is a wick assembly whichin this case is a wick size spirally wound around a supporting cylinder4. The upper portion of this wick assembly is protected by a cover Iperforated by slots 8 through which air or a gas can circulate forexample by diffusion.

Referring to the drawing, a side view with part of the external wallbroken away to show the internal parts, an embodiment of my inventionconsists of a protective metal hull l which holds a glass container 2filled with the aromatic solution to be evaporated. These two jars arecovered by a plate 3 which supports a wick assembly, on each side. Thewick assemblies are similar on the upside and the downside of the plate3 and consist of a hollow perforated metal cylinder 4, around which iswound a wick 5 of heavy fibrous and porous material. The wick iscontinuous and is winding around the perforated cylinders, both aboveand below the plate 3 and goes from one of the perforated cylinders tothe other through an aperture in the said plate 6.

The upper and lower parts of the wick are thus in capillary connectionor junction with each other. If they are not entirely similar, they haveat least such similar dimensions and evaporating characteristics, thatthey can perform each others function, if their position is reversed.The upper wick is protected by a metal cover lw-hich has a number ofslots 8 permitting free circulation of air around and about the upperwick. This cover, however, is not necessary and can be omitted.

An aromatic solution 9 is contained in the glass container 2. r

The apparatus functions as follows: Air current, or, in the absence ofair current, an air diffusion takes place through the apertures 8 of thecover 7. This air current, or diffusion, causes evaporation of thearomatic compound from the adjacent portion of the wick 5. This causes adeficiency of the aromatic liquid in theupper portion of the wick 5 andby capillary action, the wick draws the liquid in which its lower partis immersed 9 up to the upper part, where it again evaporates, etcetera.The liquid in the container 9 may be replenished at intervals andcontinues to evaporate through the wick.

However, the aromatic materials by their very nature contain severaldifierent portions or fractions, some of which evaporate more readilyand others of which are very slow to evaporate. It is not possible toproduce the desired odor value by a product which does not contain anysuch more slowly evaporating portions.

After a period of about a week to ten days, these slowly evaporatingportions of the arcmatic compound will gradually accumulate in the upperpart of the wick 5, and they will then interfere with the action of thewick so as to greatly retard further evaporation, thus reducing theefficiency of the device.

Heretofore, it has been necessary at this point to replace the wick, orelse to wash the wick very thoroughly in a solvent. This operation isnot only tedious, but it is also very unpleasant, since the aromaticcompounds used by their very nature will adhere most tenaciously to thehand of the person handling the wick, whether for replacement or forwashing, so that this person will smell of odorizer for the rest of theday, even in spite of thorough washing of the hands.

In the device of the present invention, this is unnecessary, because theupper part of the wick assembly is identical with the lower part.According to this invention, when the clogging of the upper part of thewick has taken place, it

is not necessary to wash or to renew the wick, but the plate 3 is simplylifted up and turned upside down. The plate 3 is identical on bothsides, and the part of the wick which has heretofore been exposed to airand is clogged by the slow evaporation fraction of the aromatic nowbecomes immersed in the aromatic solvent 9 which, over a period ofseveral days, will fully dissolve and remove the heavy portions of thearomatic compound while the portion of the wick which formerly was onthe downside is well cleaned, having been immersed in liquid for about aweek, and will now function with impedance.

Thus, by making the plate reversible and the wick assemblies similar onthe upper and lower sides, I have eliminated the loss of time requiredin cleaning the wick at frequent intervals, and I have also eliminatedthe unpleasant task 'of handling the wick at such intervals. The wordwick I employ in a broad sense, to signify any article capable ofdrawing up liquid by capillary action and allowing it to evaporate,whether this material be fibrous, or unglazed clay, fritted glass,cloth, felt, paper, asbestos, or any other capillary material.

Obviously, the invention is not restricted to the particular mechanicaldetails or the particular embodiment described above by way ofillustration and not of limitation. The invention generally embraces theconcept of using a wick assembly, in which the parts exposed to air andto the liquid, respectively, are so similar that a reversal in positionof the wick parts on each side of the supporting member will result insatisfactory performance and will obviate the necessity for cleaning thewick.

The invention is not to be circumvented by any insignificant or minordifferences between the wicks or the wick-holding assemblies on theupper and lower side of the carrier plate.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. A liquid evaporating device comprising, in combination, aliquid-holding member, a reversible wick-supporting member, extendingtransversely of the liquid holding member; wick means extendingtransversely of the wick-supporting member and having substantiallysimilar wick portions on each side of said wick-supporting member longenough to be immersed in the liquid, said wick portions being connectedwith each other and said wick-supporting member being readily detachablerelative to the liquid holding member.

2. A liquid evaporating device comprising, in combination, a liquidholding member, a reversible wick-supporting member extendingtransversel of the liquid holding member, wick means extendingtransversely of the wick-supporting member and having substantiallysimilar wick portions on each side of said wick-supporting member, longenough to be immersed in the liquid, said wick portions being connectedwith each other, the liquid holder being surrounded by a casing, thewick-supporting member being a plate-like member resting on thesurrounding casing.

3. A liquid evaporating device comprising, in combination, a liquidholding member, a reversible wick-supporting member extendingtransversely of the liquid holding member; wick means extendingtransversely of the wick-supporting member and having substantiallysimilar wick portions on each side of said wick-supporting member, longenough to be immersed in the liquid, said wick portions being connectedwith each other, the wick-supporting member being readily reversiblerelative to the liquid holding member.

J OHAN BJORKSTEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 472,133 Merrill Apr. 5, 18921,016,648 Snell Feb. 6, 1912 1,155,701 Bliss Oct. 5, 1915 1,974,414Dupuy Sept. 25, 1934

